Cades Cove Shuttle Tours

Local citizens, led by Randy Boyd, founder of Radio Systems, have teamed with the Southeastern office of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) to provide a shuttle vehicle for tours of Cades Cove in the Smokies.

Boyd is putting up $250,000 of his own funds for the vehicle, and he says, “I just enjoy the Park and I couldn’t think of a better way to give back. The Cades Cove area has always been beautiful, but it almost to the point where I am embarrassed to try to take guests from out-of-town because it’s so crowded it turns out to be a bad experience.”

Hoping to implement the service by next summer, Allisa McMahon, NPCA program coordinator, said work remains to be done on the business plan before a “clean fuel” vehicle can be chosen for the tours.

“We’re looking at options based on mileage – the shuttle would have to run daily,” said McMahon

Visitors would have to pay a small fee to use the shuttle. The fees would be used to offset operational costs.

The NPCA/Boyd plan is unrelated to the National Park Service’s planning process for the future of Cades Cove, said Bob Miller, park spokesman.

“They (NPCA) have not approached us about a shuttle,” he said. “We’re certainly interested in seeing traffic problems mitigated whenever it’s possible, but we haven’t had any discussion about how their shuttle might work. It’s unrelated to the outcome of whatever the park will decide to come out of the Cades Cove planning process. The next public meeting on the plans will be in 2008.”